Prof. Morgan
ADMJ 54
19 Feb 2014
Guest Speaker 1 When thinking of an attorney the majority does not give it much thought as to the different types and functionalities this profession takes. That is, until someone is in need of one, or facing one of these professional arguers. One group that find themselves facing an attorney are criminals who have had charges placed against them through the District Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney’s Office is the main prosecuting party in any criminal case whether it comes down to a plea bargain which covers about 95% of all cases or goes to a full court trial. District Attorney’s, otherwise known as D.A.’s, base much of their decisions by the amount of investigation and evidence that investigators supply them with. Scott Schweibish, who spoke in class, is the Deputy District Attorney for Sacramento County. Mr. Schweibish was a wealth of knowledge on correlating good investigation practices to how well an attorney can prosecute. D.A. Schweibish began his presentation by describing his workload which consists of prosecuting general felonies. These felonies range from drugs, DUI, home invasion, attempted murders, etc. Before becoming a D.A. for Sacramento County he worked for Orange County as a District Attorney. The D.A. has spent his entire career working closely with different law enforcement agencies, as well as numerous police officers. He has worked with special investigation projects, federal agencies, special task forces involved with narcotics, white collar crime, and the U.S Attorney. Being an attorney where the main focus is to prosecute a criminal Mr. Schweibish stressed that it is crucial to receive an investigation report that is the most accurate down to the smallest detail. Any aspect of the investigation that is overlooked or mistakenly not written in the officers’ report can open a whole for the defenses side to prove the defendant is innocent or have the case dismissed all